SMART idea, but save your energy for now
THE £11billion roll-out of gas and electricity smart meters by 2020 is designed to cut energy bills for 30million households and small businesses – and encourage regular switching. These devices are the future but should you wait before installing one? The Mail on Sunday investigates.
ALMOST two million smart meters have been installed across the country since the programme to replace their old-fashioned counterparts began rather tentatively in 2012.
That number is a fraction of the 53million meters that the Government hopes will be fitted over the next five years in homes and small businesses.
However, fast-changes in technology mean that many of those who have already taken the leap are in a state of limbo.
WHAT ARE SMART METERS?
SMART meters are designed to revolutionise the way that we manage our energy consumption and push down prices.
They come with a ‘home monitor’, a key component to help householders see in real time how much energy their devices are gobbling up – information which is then passed back to their supplier.
Many people do not know their kilowatt hours from their cubic feet – measurements for electricity and gas respectively – so the high-tech meters also tell you exactly how much has been spent on running a home’s appliances in pounds and pence.
The new meters allow providers to read a home’s energy usage at least every 30 minutes – as a result suppliers are likely to develop new tariffs to more closely match a household’s consumption. The idea is that there will be no more estimated bills or providers sitting on millions of pounds of customers’ credit.
This should help the industry meet the target set by the Government of allowing 24-hour switching.
For those with pre-payment meters, the new models will allow them to top up at any time of the day or night – whether online or by phone – rather than having to run out to a shop to buy top-up credit when the lights go out.
Ann Robinson, head of consumer policy at comparison service uSwitch, predicts a revolution in ‘time of use’ tariffs, where providers charge more at peak times, allowing people to choose to use power when it is at its cheapest.
‘Without smart meters, householders wouldn’t have access to such tariffs,’ she says.
Standard meters simply record gas and electricity usage that then need to be read periodically so providers know what to charge.
SNAGS
THE smart meter deployment begins in earnest next year – but critics fear that the existing early adopters (mostly those who have installed first generation meters with British Gas, Eon, First Utility and Ovo) will face delays in enjoying the full benefits as the technology is upgraded.
Current smart meters communicate with providers through the mobile network.
As with mobile phones, that means people living in high-rise flats, those in properties with particularly thick walls or who reside in remote country areas struggle to make the meters work.
A new purpose-built communication network aims to iron out these problems. However, this has been hit by delays.
Initially due to be launched by September this year, it was first put off until April next year and is now not expected to be up and running until August 2016.
James Sprinz, energy technology specialist at research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance, says: ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if it is pushed back even further.’
Under the scheme, first generation smart meters, called Smets 1, must be made compatible with the new network within a year of it going live. Sprinz says: ‘This will be a bit of a pain for those who have the first type of smart meter.
‘And currently if you move to a new supplier who does not have smart meters, you lose the smart functionality and essentially have a standard – or dumb – meter.’
Each time there is a delay with the network, it acts as a break on providers that have yet to get started on the roll-out, Sprinz says.
He adds: ‘They simply don’t want to end up putting in old technology.’
Sprinz is also cautious about the hoped-for savings, both in terms of energy usage and bill costs.
He says: ‘Estimates that householders will reduce consumption by 2 per cent for gas and 2.8 per cent for electricity are optimistic – gas consumption in particular isn’t very flexible.’
Another issue is the smart meter’s home display. He says: ‘It’s a waste of money. At £15 each that adds up to £800million.
‘The display was devised six years ago but is redundant because technology has moved on and people can use their smartphones to do the same job.’
USwitch’s Robinson disagrees. She